Northern Isabela and Fernadina Islands
It was another perfect day, but nothing, absolutely nothing, broke the surface of the ocean. Many of us were on deck early searching for whales and dolphins. After an hour of seeing only sea birds and the calm blue ocean, Lynn spied a big pod of common dolphins several miles off our bow. There were thousand of them, and from the bow deck and sky deck of the Islander, we had incredible views of these sleek and beautiful marine mammals. What a way to start the day!
We descended to an excellent breakfast buffet and then took a Zodiac ride along the coast at Punta Vicente Roca. Punta Vicente is a dramatic landscape where tall volcanic cliffs drop steeply to the sea. If you look at Northern Isabela on a map, it has the shape of a sea horse, with Punta Vicente the mouth. This is actually the eroded volcano Ecuador, and half of the caldera has collapsed into the sea. Today’s photo shows a tuff cone cave. Constant wave erosion of the fragile volcanic tuff, or layered and cemented ash, has formed this cave. We took the Zodiacs into the cave. Then we explored the shore and observed many sea turtles, sea lions, fur seals, flightless cormorant, penguins and huge marine iguanas. Some of our guests opted to explore in kayaks and they got up close to sea turtles and sea lions and curious penguins swam alongside their bright yellow boats.
In the afternoon, we took the Zodiacs into a calm bay surrounded by barren black pahoehoe lava and snorkelled with sea turtles and penguins. Then we went on a short Zodiac cruise and found more penguins, cormorants and iguanas before disembarking on Punta Espinoza. On shore we found hundreds of marine iguanas, dark lava lizards, and even a rarely seen Galápagos snake. Although I have been here countless times, I couldn’t help thinking, “what an amazing and unique place!”
It was another perfect day, but nothing, absolutely nothing, broke the surface of the ocean. Many of us were on deck early searching for whales and dolphins. After an hour of seeing only sea birds and the calm blue ocean, Lynn spied a big pod of common dolphins several miles off our bow. There were thousand of them, and from the bow deck and sky deck of the Islander, we had incredible views of these sleek and beautiful marine mammals. What a way to start the day!
We descended to an excellent breakfast buffet and then took a Zodiac ride along the coast at Punta Vicente Roca. Punta Vicente is a dramatic landscape where tall volcanic cliffs drop steeply to the sea. If you look at Northern Isabela on a map, it has the shape of a sea horse, with Punta Vicente the mouth. This is actually the eroded volcano Ecuador, and half of the caldera has collapsed into the sea. Today’s photo shows a tuff cone cave. Constant wave erosion of the fragile volcanic tuff, or layered and cemented ash, has formed this cave. We took the Zodiacs into the cave. Then we explored the shore and observed many sea turtles, sea lions, fur seals, flightless cormorant, penguins and huge marine iguanas. Some of our guests opted to explore in kayaks and they got up close to sea turtles and sea lions and curious penguins swam alongside their bright yellow boats.
In the afternoon, we took the Zodiacs into a calm bay surrounded by barren black pahoehoe lava and snorkelled with sea turtles and penguins. Then we went on a short Zodiac cruise and found more penguins, cormorants and iguanas before disembarking on Punta Espinoza. On shore we found hundreds of marine iguanas, dark lava lizards, and even a rarely seen Galápagos snake. Although I have been here countless times, I couldn’t help thinking, “what an amazing and unique place!”
